So, Venezuela and Greenland are a revival of Great Power -isms and play into hte hands of Russia over Ukraine, China over Taiwan. We must therefore have a European response!
The third imperative concerns unity. European unity is essential, but it cannot become an excuse for paralysis. If unity cannot be achieved, those governments that are unwilling to act – such as Hungary but also others on a case-by-case basis – must be excluded, and exclusion must have consequences. States that block collective action at the European level cannot continue to benefit fully from shared defence, security cooperation or industrial investment. Solidarity is a two-way street and not unconditional.
That is, Europe must be the fourth Great Power and what happens in Europe’s sphere of influence will be enforced the same way.
Stick a pickelhaube on that and it could be the German Empire insisting in 1912, couldn’t it?
Animal Farm…. Typecasting 101…. Oink!!
You beat me to it.
Hard for the EU to stand up to the US while simultaneously depending on it for security.
Yes, people will tremble at the awesome military might of the EU.
Yes, tremble…
Positively go weak-kneed.
TREMBLE! before the might of my Little Tank.
Ohhh, delectable.
Those clipboards can prove an effective weapon in certain circumstances Martin.
The problem is admittedly down the road but they’re marching along as fast as they can, with constant calls to use the japanese solution on forced march stragglers. The issue i have is not France Germany, Spain, Italy doing what they agree to do together about a crisis. Its having their troops in bases around the EU which means they can get a little bit more hands on locally if the needs be. Ireland for example.
” Come friendly bombs and fall on Strasbourg…”
Fabian Zuleeg is chief executive of the European Policy Centre
Another fat grifting cunt. What a surprise.
The use of “revisionist” reveals his true loyalties – to Marxist-Leninist orthodoxy. It is their equivalent of “heretic” and did not exist as a word before they invented it.
“Solidarity is a two way street and not unconditional” means *you must obey the diktats of the Central Committee”
We need a photo in profile before we can judge whether he’s a square-head.
He looks a deeply unpleasant piece of work. I don’t suppose the girls sigh after him.
He’s more of a Humpty Dumpty
They might be more amenable when they see his pension – inflation linked to the rate of Zimbabwe in the 2000s. It’s probably higher than a Fortune 500 CEO.
“We must create a central European economic association through common customs treaties, to include France, Belgium, Holland, Denmark, Austria-Hungary, Poland and perhaps Italy, Sweden and Norway. This association will not have any common constitutional supreme authority, and all its members will be formally equal, but, in practice, will be under German leadership and must stabilize Germany’s economic dominance over Mitteleuropa.” — German Chancellor Theobald von Bethmann-Hollweg, 1914.
Then, the Nazis spoke of a “European community,” which would experience “rapidly increasing prosperity once national economic barriers are removed.”
In 1936, Hitler told the Reichstag, “The European people represent a family in this world. … It is not very intelligent to imagine that in such a cramped house like that of Europe, a community of people can maintain different legal systems and different concepts of law for very long.”
In 1940, the Nazis began to plan for the “large-scale economic unification of Europe” and a “European Economic Community” with a “European currency system” that would operate with fixed exchange rates — until a single currency could be gradually introduced. In 1942, the Nazis proclaimed “The European Economic Community.”
After the war, Nazis like Dr. Bernhard Benning, head of Reich Credit, became a senior figure in the Bundesbank. And not even two decades later, in 1957, the EEC became the name of what is now the EU.
Great! So US can get out of NATO. Europe’s got its own defense now.
Trump is trolling the EU into admitting the quiet part out loud.
While they arrogantly demand free military defence and unequal access to the US market, the EU sees the United States as an enemy and has been working against them for years.
The Euro is an attempt to usurp the dollar, the EU is very hostile to American tech firms, which it parasitically extracts fines from, the EU is fundamentally opposed to basic American human rights such as freedom of speech and tries to export its regulations overseas to undermine free speech globally.
This is an “alliance” without any value for the United States, and the nonreciprocating partner is now throwing a very public hissy fit over a bit of frozen real estate that’s completely useless to the EU… why? Do they want to build mosques there or something?
What Trump’s been doing is called buying signals. The Danes could do a Big Beautiful Deal with Trump that’s worth billions a year to their small country. Instead, they have a dopey woman from Clownworld central casting in charge, and she’s going to burn all their capital with the United States in order to be good, passive aggressive seething EU losers instead.
You get nothing, good day, sir!
Oh! come off it, Steve.
The Euro was created to replace *the pound as the alternative to the dollar* in international trade. If one believes in personal freedom and self-determination then Trump may ask for a referendum in Greenland but he can no more justify stealing it than Putin can justify stealing the Donbas or Murphy can justify stealing your house.
John, it’s not a secret that the ECB and Lagarde are out to eat the dollar’s lunch if they can? See: the financial press.
Anyway, what right does Denmark have to claim Greenland, based on 19th century Danish colonialism? Idk. Historically, such territorial misunderstandings have been resolved with either monetary compensation or extreme violence, but obviously Trump isn’t going to “nick” or “invade” bloody Greenland. He’s just putting a bit of stick about, making em jump because he’s frustrated at not being taken seriously on one of his pet Big Ideas. The EU should see this as an opportunity, there’s probably a lot of mutually beneficial things they could do with closer Yank engagement. But non…
Anyway, I think the Yanks should be allowed to pitch to the 56,000 inhabitants of Greenland. Make it a live televised series, presented by top celebrities (not David Walliams). Yuge ratings! Major advertising deals! Every week, Donald and Ursula’s teams have to do a crazy challenge, to see who wins tonight’s rose. Working title: Love, Arctically.
Of course the Eurocrats would like to be able to borrow a few $/€trillion interest-free from individuals in the rest of the world while lending out half as much at interest to companies – lots of lovely loot to pay their salaries and pensions. So what! That does not invalidate my correction of your error.
The Yanks have always (well, since 1776) had the ability to pitch to the inhabitants of Greenland – the Greenlanders haven’t chosen to unite with their next-but-one neighbour in the last 250 years.
FYI Erik the Red was 10th century not 19th century, and he was Norwegian not Danish; Leif Eriksson founded a colony in Newfoundland, not Greenland, which was destroyed by hostile “native Americans”/”first nations”.
He’s one of the people who is *very* chummy with the Chinese…..
His idea of “shared defense” may well not be European shared defense..
Donald Trump’sThe European Union’s intervention inVenezuela(Insert any member state) is not a one-off shock. It epitomiseshistheir approach ofinterventionist isolationismneo-nationalistglobalist agenda in which power is exercisedbluntlydiffusely and without democratic accountability, International rules areoptionalunchangeable and alliances aretransactionalfixed in stone and immutable In such adog-eat-dogdystopian world, hesitation and ambiguitydo notpermanentlystabiliseossify the system; they become vulnerabilities to be exploited by avolatilebureacratic andpredatoryhostileWashington.BrusselsFixed that first paragraph for him!!
Ahh, experience the warmth of collectivism!
What they need is a symbol of the power of acting together rather than individually. How about a bundle of sticks represeting solidarity wrapped round an axe representing power?
Do any of them even know why they “need” Greenland? Other than to spite the United States, which the EU treats as an enemy that owes it freebies somehow.
It’s a remnant of Danish colonialism. Like the Chagos islands it’s not even on the European continent – Greenland is part of North America.
The EU has no means of defending the place and no intention of developing it. Why should they be allowed to squat on a large island in North America and prevent economic progress forever? Billions of people could benefit from the extraction of Greenland’s resources.
Uncle Sam could make every Greenland native a billionaire and not feel it. If you lived there, you’d be very interested to hear President Trump’s offer
Who (apart from yourself) says that the Danes are preventing economic progress in Greenland?
Straw snowman!
“Preventing”, maybe not. “Doing”? Not much evidence of that, and given EU sclerosis, eco and Nut Zero bollocks, probably not much chance either.
Steve’s right. Greenland is a North American island positioned exactly between the North American continent and anything unpleasant incoming from Russia or East Asia. Now that NATO has become as pointless and fearsome as the EU Army, Trump’s going to have to take over and run the place for the good of America.
I’d go so far as say that if they had any sense, seeing the inevitable, the Greenlanders would go for full independence from Denmark – it’s already mostly legislated for – and then drive a serious bargain with DT for full Protectorate status but not perhaps incorporation. And cash in.
The Danish/EU (the EU has adopted this ishoo, foolish of the Danes to run to Mummy Ursula) could have tried some of that world class smart diplomacy, no?
I used AI (actual insanity) to come up with a better plan:
Le background: the EU is the weaker party and doesn’t hold many cards wrt the Trump administration.
Le problemme: the Americans want to buy something you don’t want to sell. (Why? Britain literally pays other countries to take valuable free real estate off us)
Le real importance of le problemme: not very, Greenland is worth nothing to you (money sink to the Danish treasury), but potentially much to Les Americains. However, you need American goodwill for non-Greenland things that are important to the EU.
Un solution: while publicly signalling your strength and solidarity (lol), why not take Trump’s buying signals seriously, say “of course, we are always willing to discuss how we can enhance our partnership with the United States…” and invite the guy to talks?
Even if you have no intention of selling, give him a bit of red carpet and some glittery prizes and you might just mollify Le Trompe / turn it into Turkish EU accession 2.0, just a series of pleasant dinners, whiling away the decades with nobody getting hurt. He won’t be President forever.
So that way, instead of ODD and letting this become another pain point in the transatlantic relationship, you get to flush out the American negotiating position. What are they willing to give, eh? You want to know that for future mutually beneficial deals, right? We could call it… diplomacy.
Ice Cold in Alex. Not a bad film.
Upvoted for straw snowman 🙂
Oil and gas exploration is banned in Greenland since 2021, and we are all familiar with EU Net Zero rules. No chance of those lovely minerals being extracted under present ownership.
Yeah, that’s what I’ve been wondering. If there is so much to exploit, why isn’t anyone exploiting?
One quibble here m’lud.
It wasnt the Danes who banned O & G drilling, the Danes are quite hapoy exploiting the fields off Denmark.
It woz the indigenous self governing Greenlanders wot dunnit!!.
Looks like the eco mind virus has infected them.
“Greenland has maintained its ban on new oil and gas exploration since 2021, with the government reaffirming its commitment to environmental protection and sustainable development as of January 2026.
The decision, driven by climate change concerns and economic assessments, has prevented new licensing despite the island’s vast untapped reserves.
In July 2021, Greenland’s government, Naalakkersuisut, suspended all new oil and gas exploration, citing the “price of oil extraction is too high” due to environmental and economic risks.
The move was justified by the need to protect nature, fisheries, and tourism, and to redirect focus toward sustainable development.
The ban applies to new exploration licenses, though four existing active licenses—held by two small companies—remain in effect as long as exploration continues.
Greenland’s government has also proposed a draft bill to ban uranium mining, which is often found alongside rare earth minerals, reflecting a broader environmental stance.”
‘Europe’ can’t be a great power though. The whole core of the EU is ‘rules based order’. If they switch to ‘great power competition’ then there’s no reason for the EU to exist – France, Germany (and probably Spain will have delusions) will want to be that great power.
Unlimited supply of delusions here.
Each of them *has been* a great power (and the sun daily sets on the American empire).
But is the RBO really over? I think it will survive, but in a weakened and simpler form, because states have always wanted and will always want some predictability in international relations. And Trump may find his room for manoeuvre reduced after the mid-terms…